comforting dog to a touch of christmas. good evening. there were signs all across the country today that a lot of americans are turning on the companies which profit from selling assault weapons. four days after 26 children and their teachers were gunned down at an elementary school, some big investors have announced they want no part of the sale of high powered guns. and also today, the president announced the action he's going to take. we heard from the first time from the powerful national rifle association saying they want to make sure a tragedy like this never happens again. "20/20" anchor chris cuomo is here to start us off on this. chris? >> diane, people are moved. we all want to make sure it never happens again. the question, which actions will follow? and the answers are starting to take shape.

with each body buried, calls for change. just today, the white house voicesing support for new gun laws and an assault weapon ban, weapons that fire a success of bullets with each pull of the trigger. cerberus announcing the sale of a stake in the biggest maker of assault rifles. the union representing california teachers is releasing because of the its connection with bushmaster. >> people were passionate about the issue. >> reporter: the strive for culture change. making assault rifles taboo. >> a lot of people are getting behind and understanding that at the end of the day, it's not the dollar that counts. but the sense. the sense of what they are going with their money.

the sense of the weapons we are selling to the general public. >> reporter: but in the wake of the shooting, sales of assault rifles have jumped. how deep will they jump? for answers, we go to those at the direct center of the attention. the teacher's pensions and the largest makers and sellers of assault rifles. i'm calling to see if bass pro shops -- walmart -- i want to know in cabela's. six responded. none has followed california's lead yet. on the corporate side, dick's sporting goods says it's going to remove some rifles for the time being. of the other major gun sellers, only walmart got back to us saying no assault rifles will come off the shelf but they have removed an ad out of respect for the loss in newtown. the ad was for an assault rifle used in the massacre. now, we called today. not everybody called us back. but it doesn't end. we are are going to keep coming back to companies. and everybody says they want to make a difference to see what they actually intend to do. >> as we know, 17 years or more,

police chiefs, police unions have been asking for help on assault weapons. is the nra statement something new? does it represent a change? do we know? >> we can't know. it's intentionally vague. they have a press conference scheduled for friday. they want to make contributions to make sure it doesn't happen again. but you cannot under estimate the intensity of the passion of gun ownership in this country. and in is the nra's constituency. >> we will see what they say friday. thank you, chris. and friday has been set aside as a day of mourning across connecticut. today, the children from newtown schools showed how resilient they are, the single act getting on the school bus. smiling from the windows and reaching out for a hug from a policeman. and dan harris was there. >> reporter: they were greeted at the door with hugs from teachers. the buses bore ribbons in green and white, the colors of sandy hook elementary. there was serious security.

police checking every car. but even this officer was giving out hugs. are there any concerns about safety? >> no, they're in a safe place there. >> as you can imagine, it was pretty difficult. what else are you gonna do? >> reporter: sandy hook itself remains closed indefinitely. parents say they have been told classes will resume in an unused middle school in the next town over some time in january. sara's 5-year-old william was across the hall from a class that was attacked. >> i'm so nervous. i'm scared and i will be frightened on the first day of school and many days after that. >> reporter: karen's son is a kindergartner. >> it's scary. i'm going to put on a brave face, march up to the door and say hello to the teacher and i'll walk away and then cry. it's all so surreal. i just -- i'm sorry.

i just can't -- it's all just a nightmare. >> reporter: today, we learned about the extraordinary lengths the officials are going through to make sure the school's new home exactly replicates the atmosphere at sandy hook. look at this picture. this child's desk has been set up at the new school and every detail, right down to the detail of the crayon is painstakingly recreated. not every child will go back to school. today, victor cruz visited with the family of a little boy who was his biggest fan. jack pinto, whose funeral was yesterday. after, he tweeted, looking at life through a different lens. many of the parents of the surviving sandy hook students are worried about the psychological impact it will have. but research shows that children are extraordinarily resilient. one large study shows that only 1% of people with a traumatic event before the age of 16 went

on to have ptsd. only 1%. diane? >> i know effort is made to surround them with help in this period. thank you very much for reporting. now, we turn to a new development in a terror plot we today you about weeks ago. a 20-year-old from south florida from pakistan, charged with plotting to carry out terror attacks in new york city. we learned today that he came to manhattan november 23rd studying times square, wall street and broadway theaters. officials say he was lone wolf. who was inspired by al qaeda. he returned to his home in south florida where they intercepted him before he could carry out any attacks. and the dow jones leapt 115 points today on the hope that is a deal is closer on that fiscal cliff, now just 14 days away. so what is on the table tonight? is a deal close? how does it affect your family? jonathan karl here with that. jon?

>> reporter: with everybody's taxes at stake here, both sides have made big concessions to try to get a deal. president obama has agreed to limit the annual cost of living increases for people getting social security. somebody retiring this year. that could mean $130 less a year by 2015 and less after that. a big deal for democrats. they always said that social security was untouchable. meanwhile from republicans, speaker boehner has agreed to raise tax rates on the wealthy. specifically those making $1 million a year. there are 280,000 people making that much a year. some of them are small business owners. others are people like alex rodriguez. he made $30 million. next year alone, he could pay $1.3 million more in taxes. i got to tell you, despite the concessions on both sides there is increasing pessimism here about getting to a deal. in fact, the republicans are

working on a backup plan to pursue if all talks with the white house collapse. >> well, at least the first reports of some concrete things now on the table. jonathan karl reporting in. and all of us in journalism were relieved today to learn that our friend, veteran reporter richard engel is free and safe. he was held captive for five days in syria, and highlights the danger in the shadows there. as the rebels and the terrorists and president assad wrestles for power, i want to bring in abc's foreign affairs correspondent martha raddatz. >> reporter: good evening match truly terrifying ordeal for richard engel and his crew. they were ambushed by more than a dozen heavily armed men, believed to be loyalists to assad's government. one of the rebels they were with was executed on the spot in front of them. they were blindfolded, hands

bound and threatened with death. he talked about it after he was freed this morning. >> they made us choose who would be shot first. and when we refused there were mock shootings. they pretended to shoot gazi several times. >> reporter: gazi is one of the crew. they escaped with the help of rebels at a check point after a fire fight where two of the kidnappers were killed. there is still a young american freelance journalist, austin tice, who has been held hostage since august in syria. and this is all a reminder how out of control things are in syria. a conflict, as you know that has already claimed more than 40,000 lives. >> so many dangerous journeys into syria by reporters. and we think of all those who live there and who have suffered so much. thank you, martha, reporting in. we did celebrate the news of richard engel today. we move on next to the holiday. exodus under way as 93.3 million

americans plan a trip over the rivers to grandmother's house. the problem is a wicked one-two punch of weather stirring up a mess. here is abc's meteorologist ginger zee. >> reporter: it's a pre-holiday pounding. after two days of rain this soggy hill just outside seattle turns into a dramatic mud slide, cascading through a freight train, sending it right off the track. and near san francisco, the rain caused this sink hole to open up. and then there's the snow from oregon to lake tahoe. the northwest is covered in white. this reporter showed us just how bad the roads were. >> winter hit the state of washington over night. here is what we are dealing with. really wet snow and ice underneath making roads very slick, makes kids late for school and making it tough for people to get the holiday shopping done in time.

>> reporter: that storm tonight is on the move. blizzard warnings in eastern kansas and a snake of watches and warnings from denver to eastern michigan. the result, up to a foot of snow and gusting winds from parts of the rockies to eastern iowa. starting tomorrow and making it to wisconsin by friday. >> okay, ginger is here now. take us through, what travellers should watch for. >> tonight, it's denver. if you're flying in and around denver, tonight, early tomorrow, northeast colorado. then we go for the wednesday nebraska and kansas problem area. iowa. and even northern illinois, just touching of the suburbs of chicago, thursday and friday. remember too, you have severe storms and everybody is asking, does it get to the east coast? do we get a white christmas? right now, it looks like a whole lot of rain. >> looks like we need holiday spirit out there in the roads. thanks. and still ahead, the abc news search for solutions. the front lines in the america gun crisis, inside the emergency rooms.

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on abc news across all programs we are joining the search for solutions. tonight, we want to take you to meet some doctors who want you to know what they are seeing every day. in the last survey, 31,000 americans were killed by guns that is 60 times more than the troops killed in iraq and afghanistan that year, 2010. so we asked those doctors to tell us how they think it could change. matt gutman was with them. >> reporter: skyler davis was shot before she was even born. >> it was through her arm here and the exit came up here. it shattered her elbow bone. >> reporter: a four-pound victim shot while still in her mother's womb. one of the small victims. caught every day like in in hospital in miami. jackson center is ground zero in a national crisis. >> eight months pregnant, shot in the uterus and in the brain.

>> reporter: in fact 600 gunshot victims treated here last year. more than in all of britain over a ten-year span. what do the men and women, some who own guns themselves for protection think must change now? who would want to see guns get rid of entirely in the country? but the surgeons on the front lines say the real solution might not be the guns at all. it's the bullets. >> it's the ammunition. >> reporter: this doctor says she can tell when a victim comes in with injuries from an assault weapon instead of a handgun. >> absolutely. it looks like a bomb has gone off on the inside. >> reporter: she wants the bullets to be banned. not only do the assault rifle bullets travel about three times as fast through the longer barrel, but these bullets are designed not to just strike but to shatter upon impact, causing

extensive damage. and one more longer solution. >> we need to bring the survivors of gun violence to the table. we need to hear their perspective. >> reporter: just like victims of domestic violence or alcohol, drug abuse, patients who have been shot, often caught in a cycle of violence should also receive counseling. skyler is too young to understand, shot before she was born. her wounds will remain until she dies. matt gutman, abc news, miami. we hope you will be sure to watch "nightline" tonight for a special report on the business of the gun industry. and tomorrow on "world news," we are going to put a clock on the most popular automatic rifle to show you how much difference a few seconds makes in trying to save a life. coming up next here, it's time for an instant index. why millions of people were worried today their private photographs would be sold to the highest bidder. that is next.

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and now our instant index tonight. all about snapshots we saw today of one kind or another, starting with the outcry that force the instagram to reverse court. called instagate. it turns pictures from this to this. and today, the company seemed to announce that starting in january, they would be able to sell your pictures. so thousands of users deleted their accounts in rebellion. in response, instagram announced they are not going to sell your photos and everyone can exhale.

and this snapshot in the news, something not seen in 231 years, queen elizabeth surrounded by cabinet members at 10 downing street. the last monarch to stop by was king george iii in 1781, undoubtedly to complain about all the revolutionaries in america. she spoke twice, by the way, wishing everyone a merry christmas and asking that next year, the speech to the parliament, which cabinet members write for her, be shorter. and a quote in the news, i was only half joking. that is what mary lohse said when she and her husband won a $202 million power ball jackpot last november and decided to donate a $2 million stadium at their son's school under the one condition, the visiting team's locker room should be painted pink.

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and finally, all day, we have been watching as millions of strangers send healing and kindness to the people of newtown, connecticut. some of the ideas are inspired. some of them furry. all of them evidence of what real neighbors coast to coast do for each other. here is abc's amy robach. >> reporter: all over newtown, we saw them today. people from across america, the world, pouring in to show support. >> people from japan, cairo, egypt, france, poland. but everybody, even all over the united states here. >> reporter: from portland, oregon, 26 wreaths for each innocent life lost. and from sanford, north carolina, 26 christmas trees >> through this tragedy, i

wanted them to feel love from all over. >> reporter: firefighter anthony carpenter helped line the trees along the entrance to sandy hook elementary. >> i would say within an hour, they were all decorated. >> reporter: from long island, new york, 26 ornaments. >> they are not alone. >> yeah. >> yeah, not alone. >> reporter: children from ft. stuart, georgia, sending toys to children in newtown in time for christmas. from all over the world, nearly 2 million people signing this card online, offing their condolences and love. free hot coffee for the whole town from los angeles. >> their lives will never be the same. i figure a cup of coffee goes a long way. >> reporter: maxiline ramos manages newtown general store and says coffee was just the beginning. how many people have called in and made donations? >> every minute. >> reporter: from chicago, illinois, trained comfort dogs, who helped ease the pain for both children and adults, luther has been busy. >> it is a reminder for people of newtown that there is joy.

>> and safety. see, our dogs are safe. they don't bark, they don't bite, they are safe. >> the love that is coming across the country, from around the world. it means a lot to us. >> reporter: individual acts of kindness giving comfort to those who have lost so much. amy robach, abc news, newtown, connecticut. so glad you were with us tonight. always here at abcnews.com. "nightline" later and see you again tomorrow night. good night.

tonight we're live in san jose. a community college is on lock down after reports of a man with a gun on campus. >> back to school for the children of newtown, connecticut. tonight our laura anthony reports live from a town that will never be the same. >> in sacramento in, response to connecticut shootings, lawmakers introduced more gun control laws. state senator lock year wants to put pension fund investments into gun manufacturing firms. >> where do you think this is going to go? >> i lawmaker presides over financial reforms after a scandal he brought on himself. >> we're going begin with a live picture from pleasanton. live, over the san jose city college under a lock down right now. someone reported hearing gunshots at the school today. good evening, i'm dan ashley. >> after what happened in connecticut on friday, you can

imagine how anxious people are about seeing a weapon at n]÷ san jose city college off interstate 280 southwest of downtown san jose. abc 7 news is live on the scene for us. david what can you tell us? >> this situation is still unfolding here on the city college campus, you can see there are police cars. there has been a tremendous response here because of the reportsr8